Content area
Full Text
The Battle of Hampton Roads: New Perspectives on the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia. Edited by Harold Holtzer and Tim Mulligan. New York: Fordham University Press, 2006; and Newport News, Va.: Mariners' Museum, 2006. ISBN 0-8232-2482-3. Photographs. Illustrations. Notes. Index. Pp. xv, 222. 824.95.
The Civil War naval battle fought in Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 9 March 1862 and watched by thousands of people on shore, inaugurated a new chapter in the history of warfare. It was the first-ever clash between ironclads. Only the day before, the Confederate ironclad Virginia had rammed and sunk the U.S. sloop Cumberland and attacked and burned the frigate Congress. The Virginia withdrew at dusk, its crew confident that the next day they would complete the destruction of the Union squadron, including the grounded flagship Minnesota, and transports and supply ships off Fort Monroe.
As the Virginia...